Bylaws serve as the governing rules by which the nonprofit operates. Every nonprofit has them, and they are typically constructed, approved, and maintained by the organization’s Board of Directors.

In 2007, the Boise Bicycle Project composed its original set of bylaws with a lot of assistance from the Idaho Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health (IFFCMH served as BBP’s fiscal sponsor as we applied for our own nonprofit status). Many of BBP bylaws were copied from their bylaws and edited to serve our own unique needs. Over the last 15 years, BBP has helped dozens of nonprofits get started by making our own bylaws available to copy and edit.

When any organization is founded, they have a vision of what they will become and mission that guides them on how to execute it. However, the founders of the organization may not know all of the ways the organization will change in the future, so bylaws and other governing documents need to be updated from time to time.

In BBP’s bylaws it states that we have to notify our members whenever our bylaws are changed before the Board can approve them at the next board meeting. BBP’s Sustainability and Governance Committee recently reviewed our bylaws and found a few areas that needed to be updated. In the attached PDF (BBP BYLAWS), you will see the proposed changes in red.

For most people, bylaws aren’t super interesting, but they are vital to the governance and operations of every nonprofit and its Board. Like most things, as the world changes and fresh eyes look at old document, updates often need to be made.

If you see any issues with the changes, please email info@boisebicycleproject.org, subject: BBP Bylaws.